Small Boat Commercial Salmon
Fishermens' Association
Welcome to our web page. We hope
you will find it useful and informative. We invite you to "click
on the links" and explore.
We installed this site as a tool for
our members, and for all fishermen on our coast, to inform the
public and strenghten the bond between the fishing & non-fishing
communities.
Salmon
Problem: Central Valley Salmon Collapse. Central Valley chinook
(kings) are the second largest salmon run along the Pacific Coast,
accounting for about 90 percent of California's salmon production
and often for more than 50 percent of Oregon and Washington's
ocean catch. The decline of CV fall-run chinook is the cause of
the salmon closures of 2008 and 2009 and the very restricted and
very poor 2010 season for California and much of Oregon. CV stocks
- fall-run and the Endangered Species Act -listed winter and spring-runs
- collapsed due to increased pumping and record levels of water
diversions by the federal (CVP) and state (SWP) water projects
from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary. Poor water quality
and diminished habitat are believed to have had a hand in the
decline, and though some federal scientists blame ocean conditions,
that doesn't account for normal or above-average runs in other
river systems.
Response: PCFFA, in response, has done the following over the
past two quarters of this year:
- Been in court (PCFFA v. Gutierrez) fighting for better salmon
protection from Delta pumping;
- Presented testimony to the National Academy of Science at its
hearings on the cause of the decline of the Bay-Delta estuary
and its salmon;
- Presented scientific testimony with it sister organization,
the Institute for Fisheries Resources, to the California State
Water Board on flow needed for salmon habitat and migration through
the Bay-Delta;
- Worked on the production of newspaper blogs by PCFFA staff and
board members to educate the public on water issues affecting
salmon, and assisted Salmon Water Now (www.SalmonWaterNow.org)
in the production of salmon education videos for You-Tube and
other outlets;
Resolution: The State Water Board and the National Academy of
Science have found more water is needed in the Delta for salmon
protection/restoration, and the National Marine Fisheries Service
has developed a recovery plan, , in response to an earlier lawsuit
by PCFFA, to restore the ESA-listed runs, which will also help
the economically important fall-run. PCFFA's work continues.
Problem: Restoring the Klamath River and its Salmon. Klamath
River fall-chinook have suffered significant decline due to lack
of access to historic spawning grounds, and are imperiled by high
water temperature and poor water quality due to the presence and
operation of the four PacifiCorps hydro-dams on the river. Salmon
runs in the Klamath were once the third largest in the lower 48.
Action/Resolution: After more than nine years of negotiations,
on 18 February PCFFA joined the Governors of California and Oregon,
the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce, and multiple stakeholders,
signing the "Klamath Settlement Agreements." The "Klamath
Basin Restoration Agreement" (KBRA), and the "Klamath
Hydropower Settlement Agreement" (KHSA) set up a process
for the Interior Secretary to decide by 31 March 2012 whether
the four Klamath hydropower dams (which block salmon passage)
should come down. PCFFA's Glen Spain represents the commercial
fishing industry in that process. The KBRA also establishes a
50-year habitat restoration project in the basin and guarantees
that up to 230,000 additional acre-feet/year of upper basin water
will be shifted back to the river for salmon. The joint NEPA/CEQA
process for the "Secretarial Determination" on dam removal
is underway. For more information, see: www.klamathrestoration.gov.
Problem: Columbia Basin Fish Passage: Columbia River basin salmon
runs have been severely damaged for decades by dam operations
on the river, including impaired fish passage and fish-adverse
flow releases. Action: A Motion for Summary Judgment was filed
in federal district court 29 October by Earthjustice on behalf
of PCFFA and others to overturn the fourth failed Salmon Plan
in the Columbia since the 1990's.
Resolution: A ruling by the court is expected to overturn the
current plan (the old Bush plan with a new cover) as inadequate
in March of 2011. Among other outcomes, plaintiffs are asking
the court to order the parties into settlement negotiations and
to begin consideration of dam removals on the Snake River to restore
these salmon runs, once the largest in the world. For more, see:
www.wildsalmon.org.
Problem: Economic Hardship Due to Closures and Collapsed CV Salmon
Runs. Salmon fisheries in California and much of Oregon continue
to reel from the collapse of CV salmon. Action: After successfully
securing relief for the Klamath and Sacramento disasters, PCFFA
again sought federal disaster declarations in 2010 to set the
stage for relief for all sectors of the salmon fishery affected
by the fishing loss. Resolution: The Department of Commerce has
declared 2010 a disaster. PCFFA is working for a Congressional
appropriation to provide disaster relief funds for affected fishermen
and businesses.
Crab
Problem: Too many crab traps. There is broad consensus that there
are too many traps in use in California's Dungeness crab fishery.
California is the only West Coast state with no trap limits.
Action: State legislation created a Dungeness Crab Task Force
to develop a consensus-based trap limit design to submit to the
State Legislature. Earlier this year the Task Force completed
its work, with input from legislative staff and the California
Department of Fish & Game. However, in the 11th hour of the
legislative session, CDFG's lobbyist killed the bill.
Resolution: PCFFA will initiate legislation in the new session,
working with a new administration and new CDFG leadership, to
carry out the recommendations made by the Dungeness Crab Task
Force.
Groundfish
Problem: NOAA/NMFS-Pacific Council Groundfish IFQ Plan Threatens
Fishermen and Coastal Fishing Communities. The recently adopted
"rationalization" plan claims to "end overfishing"
and "stop the race for fish." This is a lie. Both overfishing
and the "race to fish" have been dealt with under existing
regulations. Instead, the trawl IFQ "catch share" plan,
slated to begin in January, does the following:
- Gifts 90 percent of the groundfish resource to approximately
165 trawl permit owners;
- Permanently reallocates that portion of the fixed gear quota,
that had been temporarily provided trawlers when restrictions
on groundfish fishing were put in, now as quota shares for trawl
permit owners;
- Allows trawl permit holders to sell their quota (de facto privatization
of a public resource) to anyone after two years - including processors,
bankers (including collateral for loans), even Wall Street hedge
fund managers - there are no restrictions to limit quota ownership
to those actually fishing;
- Prohibits fixed gear fishermen from buying "trawl"
quota unless they purchase one of the 165 trawl permits, however,
trawlers are not required to purchase fixed gear permits to switch
to fixed gear, which they will be able to do freely any time they
want without regard to impacts on fixed gear fishermen;
- Allows massive consolidation of the fleet - potentially to as
few as 35 vessels - by allowing a vessel to fish up to 2.7 percent
of the total quota (higher for some species);
- Thumbs its nose at Congress by failing to provide quota for
community fishing associations (CFAs);
- Squeezes-out small trawl operators by requiring 100 percent
observer coverage (no provisions are made for cameras or other
monitoring technology) whether or not a vessel can take an observer
and then requires each vessel to pay the approximate $100,000
per year for an observer whether or not that trawl permit holder
is allocated enough quota to pay the observer cost. There is no
common pool to pay for observers. It also discriminates against
trawlers that fished "cleanly" in the past; and
- Eliminates in the future - through consolidation and discrimination
against the fixed gear fishery - access to groundfish for many
fishing ports that depend on that resource, and sets the stage
for large corporations and commodity traders to take over and
control this fishery.
Action/Resolution: A lawsuit has been filed by Crab Boat Owners
Association (San Francisco), POORT (Port Orford) and PCFFA against
Commerce and NOAA/NMFS to block the PFMC's groundfish trawl IFQ
"ratz" program (PCFFA, et al. v. Locke)
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, P.O. Box
29370, San Francisco, CA 94129, Tel: (415)561-5080 Contact the
Northwest Office at: P.O. Box 11170, Eugene, OR 97440, Tel: (541)
689-2000. Web: www.pcffa.org
San Francisco, October 28 – A regional fishing organization
and two locally-based port organizations – in California
and Oregon, announced today they have filed suit against the Department
of Commerce to halt a plan that will consolidate much of the fishing
fleet, privatize public fish resources, deny many fishing ports
access to fish in adjacent waters and cause massive job losses.
“We had no option left us,” said Larry Collins, a San
Francisco fisherman and President of the Crab Boat Owners Association,
one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “If we didn’t
act to stop this travesty, ownership of the resource will consolidate
into the hands of a few operators in a few ports along the coast,
leaving many coastal fishing communities, including our own Fisherman’s
Wharf, with no access to our own local fish.”
The suit, filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,
seeks to stop the implementation of a plan by the Pacific Fishery
Management Council - and approved by Commerce - to “rationalize”
the fishery, giving control of individual fishing quotas for groundfish
to owners of trawl fishing vessels. The quotas can then be freely
leased or sold to anyone holding or purchasing a trawl fishing
permit, including non-fishermen.
Groundfish is the term used for a multi-species fisheries consisting
of stocks such as sole, rockfish and sablefish. These fish are
caught with bottom trawls, or drag nets, as well as by hook-and-line
and traps.
Plaintiffs are the Crab Boat Owners Association of San Francisco,
the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team of Port Orford, Oregon, and
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.
Defendants are Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the National
Marine Fisheries Service, and the Department of Commerce’s
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
Under Commerce’s plan, 90 percent of the groundfish will
be given to trawl vessel owners, despite the fact this fishing
gear has proven the most problematic of the three ways of harvesting
the fish. Hook-and-line and traps – collectively known as
“fixed gear,” are used to fish rockfish and blackcod,
and are far more selective and do not harm seafloor habitat. Fixed
gear-caught fish also command a higher value and employ more small
family-owned fishing vessels.
Excepting about 160 trawl permit holders selected by the Pacific
Council for quota allocation, all other fishing men and women
will be prohibited from fishing all but about 10 percent of the
West Coast groundfish resource. Control or ownership of the fishing
quota being given the trawlers, however, may be freely sold thereafter
and is not restricted to those fishing aboard a vessel
“This plan imposes a radical shift in the way our fisheries
have been conducted. Since ownership of these quotas - which are
being given to a select group of trawl operators - is not limited
to those actually fishing, our next generation of fishing men
and women will likely be seafaring sharecroppers forced to fish
quotas held by processors, bankers and speculators,” said
Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation
of Fishermen’s Associations. “This is social engineering,
not conservation.”
The plaintiff fishing organizations note the Commerce groundfish
plan will cost thousands of coastal jobs and not save one fish.
This is what happened in Alaska when over 1,000 fishing jobs were
lost there under a federal “rationalization” plan for
the crab fishery.
“We’ve got 2,000 miles of coastline, which historically
supported thousands of small boat hook-and-line, trap and small
trawl operators fishing this resource. There was more than enough
fish for everyone,” added Collins. “But greed has taken
over. First the big trawlers overfished the stocks and now they
want what’s left all for themselves with the government’s
blessing.”
Collins continued saying, “The people who traditionally
fished hook-and-line and traps are being cut out under this government
scheme to make a handful of trawlers millionaires and, in turn,
privatize a public trust resource – the fish. By allowing
the quota to be sold to anyone, even used as collateral for loans,
makes it private property no matter what the government says.
And, the massive fleet consolidation means there will no longer
be enough vessels to bring their catch to the 30 or more fishing-dependent
ports along this coast.
“Commerce’s groundfish rationalization is going to
devastate communities such as Port Orford whose economy depends
on fishing,” said Leesa Cobb of Oregon’s Port Orford
Ocean Action Team, who has spent hundreds of hours in Pacific
Council meetings over the past six years pleading the case of
small fishing ports. “Sustainable fisheries such as ours
are being sacrificed for those who’ve not fished sustainably
in the past. The government turned a blind eye to this and has
been dismissive of the effects this plan would have on communities
such as mine.”
Under a 2006 amendment to the nation’s governing fishery
law – the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management
Act – when fishing access is limited quota is to be provided
for community fishing associations, to assure ports with a historic
dependence on fishing will continue to have access to the fish
from adjacent waters. Under Commerce’s “rationalization”
plan, however, no provision has been made for community fishing
associations, such as those forming in Port Orford and San Francisco.
The plaintiffs acknowledge the groundfish fishery has been in
crisis and improvements in management are needed, but they say
the government’s “rationalization” plan will make
a bad situation much worse. According to them, the problem is
too large of vessels taking too much fish, not “too many
boats chasing too few fish.”
“There are or will be enough fish to sustainably support
hundreds of small vessels and fishing families along the coast,
supplying locally-caught catch for the 30 plus fishing ports from
Southern California to the Canadian border,” said Collins.
“But there’ll never be enough to satiate the greed of
the large companies and corporations waiting in the wings to take
control of this resource under the government’s irrational
scheme.”
Grader was even harsher in his criticism calling the “rationalization”
plan the “Teapot Dome of the fisheries,” referring to
the oil lease scandal of the Harding Administration, saying “this
is why this lawsuit is critical to stop this plan before it destroys
our fisheries, communities and all we hold dear.”
Plaintiff fishing groups are represented by Mark A. White of
the San Francisco law firm of Chapman, Popik & White, along
with attorneys Mary L. Hudson and Alan Waltner.
Newly disclosed government documents
conclude GE salmon pose a critical
threat to marine environments
EXPERT FISHERIES AGENCIES PROHIBIT GROWING
ENGINEERED SALMON IN OPEN-WATER
NET PENS UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
FDA Declined to Disclose Evidence During September Hearings on
Aquabounty
Salmon
Adding a new twist to the controversy over genetically engineered
(GE)
salmon, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) revealed today that,
in recent
hearings on transgenic fish, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)
knowingly withheld a Federal Biological Opinion by the U.S. Fish
and
Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) prohibiting the use of transgenic salmon in open-water
net pens
pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).
"This adds further evidence that in fact GE salmon pose
a serious threat to
marine environments and is another compelling reason for the FDA
not to
approve the fish for commercial use," said Andrew Kimbrell,
Executive
Director of the Center for Food Safety. "While the FDA applauded
the
company's choice of land-based containment as responsible, it
never revealed
that it is illegal in the U.S. to grow genetically engineered
salmon in
open-water net pens."
The Biological Opinion and supplemental information, obtained
through a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, challenge claims by
AquaBounty
Technologies, the developer of the GE salmon, that the transgenic
fish pose
no threat to marine environments. The GE Atlantic salmon under
consideration was engineered with growth hormone genes from an
unrelated
Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and DNA from the anti-freeze
genes
of an eelpout (Zoarces americanus).
The Biological Opinion issued by FWS and NOAA
<http://stopgefish.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/corp-bo-full-file.pdf>
's
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers
in 2003 expresses concerns that transgenic salmon would threaten
and
adversely affect wild Atlantic salmon, currently on the Endangered
Species
List. Federal agencies are required by Section 7 of the ESA to
consult with
the expert fisheries agencies when any action may impact a protected
species. As part of the consultation, the expert agencies draft
a
Biological Opinion explaining under what circumstance the proposed
activity
would not endanger the survival of the protected species. The
Biological
Opinion here analyzed the authorization of net pen salmon aquaculture
and
required:
"The prohibition on the use of transgenic salmonids at existing
marine sites
off the coast of Maine" in order to "eliminate the potentially
adverse
disease and ecological risks posed by the use of transgenic salmonids
in
aquaculture."
Despite this knowledge, it appears that FDA has not consulted
in depth with
the expert fisheries agencies regarding the current Aquabounty
GE salmon.
FDA acknowledges that "preliminary" discussions have
been held. However,
the documents released today by CFS also include an email from
FWS staff to
NOAA further revealed that:
Shortly after the Atlantic salmon was listed as endangered, several
of us
from USFWS and NMFS spent 2 days down in Maryland meeting with
Aqua Bounty
and FDA about development of genetically modified salmon and discussion
around the need for FDA to engage in Section 7 consultation with
the
Services. We never heard a peep out of FDA or Aqua Bounty after
that.
"The recent developments only add to the increasing concerns
raised by the
public, members of Congress and the FDA's own Advisory Committee,"
said
Jaydee Hanson, Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Food Safety.
"The
documents received make clear that some data was even kept from
FWS and NMFS
scientists who would not sign the confidentiality agreements requested
by
the FDA. If the FDA won't even share confidential company data
with
government scientists, what else is it keeping secret from the
public?"
added Hanson.
In a similar Biological
<http://stopgefish.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/epa-bo.pdf>
Opinion issued
by FWS and NMFS to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in
2001, also
included in the material released by CFS today, the agencies noted:
It is reasonable to assume that genetically-modified salmonids,
possessing a
greatly accelerated growth potential and occupying the same habitat
as wild
fish, would have a greater displacement impact on wild fish than
non-transgenic domestic strains.
Conversations between NOAA and FWS staff in 2009 highlight a
Swedish study
that found that in simulated escapes, transgenic fish have a "considerably
greater effect on the natural environment than hatchery-reared,
non-transgenic fish when they escape." The study further
noted that
genetically modified fish survive better when there is a shortage
of food,
benefit more than non-transgenic fish from increasing water temperatures,
and can be more resistant to environmental toxins that may ultimately
end up
in consumers.
"Today the public gains much needed insight about the risks
of GE fish, we
hope that FDA will take heed," added Kimbrell. "We strongly
oppose the
approval of these genetically engineered salmon and urge FDA to
reject this
application."
Why Salmon Fishing shouldn't
be closed
Video, courtesy of EarthJustice
(clicking the link above will automatically open Windows Media
Player. The file has very low resolution to make it available
to those who still have dial-up connections. High resolution files
are available to the press or those who want to publish our videos.
Please feel free to copy this video and use it for informational/educational
purposes)
has a new e-mail address, you can now contact
them via the following links:
frank@pacificnetandtwine.com
or sales@pacificnetandtwine.com
Diver Duck has created a website
about Crabbing in SF. The site includes a cartoon by Phil
Frank (Farley) in which Dungeness Crabs attack San Francisco.....
you can also buy the "Crab-Attack"
T-Shirt to benefit PCFFA
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